Many weapon manufacturers today manufacture and market weapons with provisions for mounting a light on the weapon. For example, the major handgun manufacturers, such as Springfield Armory, Glock, SIG and many others, make handguns with a light mounting rail formed on the pistol/Rifle frame, such as on the underside or top or both sides of the barrel. Such a mounting rail is often referred to in the art as a “light rail” (or a “Picatinny rail”, or “universal rail”, or “tactical rail”, the terms being used interchangeably throughout the specification and claims). The light rail has been used for mounting whitelights, infrared and laser illuminating devices and telescopic sights, for example. Leading flashlight companies, such as SureFire and Insight Technology make different kinds of lights for mounting on rifles/handguns. Light rails are extensively used by the military, law enforcement SWAT teams, as well as by civilians. Light rails have been provided for a variety of weapons, such as handguns, shoulder-fired weapons, shotguns and rifles (e.g. M1A, M16, AR15 & MP5's).
A typical light rail design is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,881,486, wherein a longitudinal rail is integrally formed on the top of the weapon casing (along the barrel portion) and on the casing extension as a mounting for a telescopic sight. The longitudinal rail has a dovetail profile on which two clamps are guided that hold the telescopic sight. The longitudinal rail has grooves in the transverse direction at specific intervals. These grooves offer space for clamping screws that fix the clamp. This allows the optical axis of the telescopic sight to be positioned very close to the barrel axis.
Most holsters are designed in such a way that one can not place a handgun in the holster without dismantling the light or other accessory from the light rail. If the light or other accessory is dismantled from the light rail, then a specific accessory is required, e.g., in order to carry the light/accessory on a belt.